I can't seem to log in this evening for some reasons!

How much do you pay your assistant? Life is expensive here in Los angeles and at the moment I pay my assistant $15/hour but it doesn't seem enough to make a comfortable living.

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I pay mine $10/hour and I live in la county. I can't provide someone enough hours to make a living. Hiring college students has worked out best for me, the extra income is good for them and they aren't supporting themselves financially. I can't imagine carrying someone else's finances and mine. I can't worry about the money they are making. I guarantee a certain number of hours and that's it, take it or leave it.

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I would not pay less than $15 per hour - even for a college student.

I agree with Organic DC Lady that I cannot and would not provide someone with enough hours to support themselves financially but the quality of college student I would want and because I would want them to feel it is financially worth it to not flake I would having their starting pay be $15 per hour. When I was in college I charged $20 per hour to babysit so for the right assistant I might consider paying that but only because they would be co-teaching my preschool program with me which is different than just being a helper.

Daycare has a breakdown of the two different type of helpers she has on staff so it might be helpful to ask her.

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Okay I found the thread where Daycare breaks down the different assistant duties.

I do feel what you pay should be reflective of what their job duties are:

https://www.daycare.com/forum/showth...ght=assistants

Hope that helps.

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I currently pay $10/hr too, but I have felt this was not only too low to be a living wage but to retain someone in the position for extended periods of time.

I think I will be revising my pay structure soon especially since minimum wage in CA is set to go up. I mean, who would deal with all that our assistants must do if they can make the same $ at McDonalds?

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In my city the min wage is slated to increase to $13.25 minimum wage by 2018 and then likely $15 by 2020.

Starting them at $15 with dollar raise per year would ensure I did not have to give them a huge when those increases hit and given that I plan to offer so few hours weekly (15-20 max) then I feel to retain them I might even need to offer more than that.

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I don't even make $20/hour so I wouldn't ever pay anyone that much. I find it hard to wrap my head around paying someone $400/week to work part time. I just don't make enough to be able to do that. In order to afford that I would have to inflate my rates so much that I might not have anyone left. I love my assistants but I've come to realize that just like clients, they are replaceable. It's a hassle that I hate dealing with, but I'm not going to sacrifice my stability for someone else.
I used to babysit and would charge between $15-20/hour. I can't charge my clients that for home daycare. My assistant isn't a babysitter. She is a helper, she cleans up after lunch, supervises nap and play time and changes diapers. That isn't as the same as a babysitter. It's a different job.
A daycare assistant is an entry level job, just like McDonald's...
My first year as an assistant preschool teacher I made minimum wage. I did it over working at McDonald's because I WANTED to work with kids. Most preschool assistants start out around minimum wage, those with education and experience start a little higher at $12/hour.
I also worked at a home daycare for a long time and never made more than $11/hour.
Unfortunately the minimum wage is going up, don't even get me started on how ridiculous that is....but it's set to be gradual increases. It would make more sense to me to follow the minim wage, not start out $5-10 more when you may not even have the same assistant when the increase happens. You might not even be doing daycare anymore!
Really at the end of the day, if you can afford to pay someone $1600/month for part time work and $3200/month for full time then awesome. You must be doing something right and are making a killing.

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I pay $15/hr in San Diego but it's only 8-10hrs/week and she has 5-7 kiddos at a time. Best investment in the business I ever made, my sanity!

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Thank you all for your answers!

It was especially helpful to read Daycare job description, I was surprised by the "no babysitting policy" is it to avoid your assistant getting too friendly with families?

For those in Los angeles and it areas, daycare pricing is way too low for the cost of living here. I was shock by how much centers cost (shouldnt parents pay more for a small group setting?), we all need a raise!

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I find many LA providers don't seem to charge enough but others are doing quite well. To me the key is finding your niche and marketing yourself accordingly.

Is the home in a good area? Does it have curb appeal?
What makes your program special? Do you offer organic meals, transportation, field trips, preschool, etc.?

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How do you find the college kids in Southern California? Some kind of message board?

And also how have you found them to be? Do they work hard or?

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Depends on their qualifications.
Are they coming with anything to add to your business or are you going to have to train them from the ground up.

I start at $10 an hour and currently live in the most expensive place to live on the US. this is without qualifications and I wil pay their CPR/first aid. I will only hire college students with ECE. All of my assistants but one are now making $15an hour. They all started at 10, one started at 12.
If I had someone with a good background of experience in this field with a degree then I would be open to pay more.

I have a morning person and an afternoon assistant and the job descriptions are VERY different from morning to afternoon. So my afternoon people generally are cleaning up after our preschool program and don't work with the kids that much, they arrive during nap time and clean for about 2 hours, work with kids about 1 hour and clean, organize or prep for another hour.


I would recommend staring someone with no qualifications at a lower rate and increase as they grow in skills and prove their worth.

If someone has experience I would consider a higher wage and again have it open for increase as they grow.

I also require all of my employees to have PD hours. If they don't meet the PD HOURS I won't bat an eyelash at giving them a raise.

We have to continue our education to keep current fresh and growing.

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